Feed-mill.



UNITED; sTATns PATENT orrrcn.

` JOHN c. wooncocx, OF LrrcnFrELn, ILLINOIS.

FEED-MILL.

- Application led August 16, 1909. Serial No. 513,020.`

To all whom it may concern:l f v Be it known that I, JOHN C. Wooncoox, a citizen of the United States, residing at Litchfield, in the county of Montgomery and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Feed-Mills, of which the following is a specification.Y

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in grinding mills, and

has for its general object to provide a machine of this kind which, by reason of its novel construction and arrangement of parts, is readily adaptable for grinding various kinds of material', such as ear corn, shell corn, and all kinds of small grain, as well as `for grinding alfalfa hay into meal, and various kinds of cereals in the head into suitable feed for stock. Y The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a sectional plan view of a ma.- chine constructed according to my invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional view, partly broken away, and taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 .is a section `on the line 3-3of' Fig. 1, and, Fig. 4 is a view in elevation of a force feed device for use when the machine is employed forv grinding hay, small grain, or grain in the head.

`Referring to the drawing, the numeral 5 indicates the lower half of a cylinder in which the feeding and, in the case of corn cobs, or corn on the ear, part of the grinding takes place, and which is supported on suitable legs 6 at each end. This lower portion 5 of the cylinder is provided throughout its length at suitable intervals with ribs 7 which assist in breaking up the corn cobs, Or ears of corn, and reducing them to small pieces. The other half ,of the cylinder, which is placed upon the part 5, and bolted thereto at the `bolt holes 8, is -indicatedby dotted lines in Fig. 2, and designated by the numeral 9.

10 indicates a hopper from which the material to be ground is fed" into the cyl- V` inder.

which in turn is secured toal shaft 15 eX-- tending lengthwise through the device substantially from end to end thereof.

In Fig. 1, I have shown a cob breaker 16,

Specificatie-mot Letters Patent.

yPatented Nov. 22,

mounted lonthe shaft 15, and secured thereon by means of a vset screw.17.l `This cob breaker is in the form of atube, having on its outer periphery a series of blades, 18, which are so inclined as to form an interrupted screw, or spiral conveyer, and which are arranged relatively close together at the end adjacent to the grinding disks. The grinding disks 12 and 13 do not extend to the shaft 15, but a. circular space is rovided to permit the entrance of the material to the space between the grinding'disk, and also to provide -room for a force-feed device 19, which is in the form of a hub connected to the face plate 14, and provided with three spirally-arranged blades 20. These blades work snugly in the circular space at the center ofthe grinding disks, and operate to force the material to be groundI not only into said space but outward into the space between the grinding disk. Each of these grinding disks has the same character of grlnding surface, that of the grinding disk 12 being shown in Fig. 2.

Extending from the periphery of the disk to the circular recess 21 thereof are a series of radially-disposed rub-irons 22. Centrally ofthe space between two rub-irons is a relatively long tooth 23, which, however, does not extend to the recess 21, and be.- tween each of these teeth anda rub-iron are two shorter teeth 24. The rub-irons and the teeth 23 and 24 are spaced an equal distance apart at the periphery of the grinding disks. The rub-irons 22 project from the face of the grinding disk to a slightly greater ex` tent than do the teeth 23 or. 2 4, and are slightly thicker, the purpose of this beingv to have these stouter reducing surfaces do the initial work of grinding, and also in the event of the grindingdisks coming inl contact to protect the shorter and smaller teeth from meeting, and thus being broken or ground off. This arrangement, I find, adds materially to the life of the grinding disks, and in addition results in producing a gradual reduction of the material being,

ground. That is to say, as the material enters between the grinding disks through the recess 21 it is first 'engaged by the rubirons 22 and reduced to a certain extent; it will next be acted upon by theseA rubirons and the long teeth 23, and finally by both of these and the teeth 24.

25indicates an outlet from the casing 11, one or more of which may be provided. A

discharge from this outlet is effected by the casing into any sultable receptacle, or

, into lan elevator. If an elevator is to be employed I provide a pulley 27 for. running the same from the shaft 15.

15, and preferably I apply an additional pulley 29 which may be conveniently used for driving other pieces of machinery, such ,as feed cutters, corn shellers, and the like, from the shaft 15. The casting 30 at the ends of the cylinder, to which the legst are secured, form bearings for the shaft 15, `and are suitably recessed to receive Babbitt metal 31, as shown.4 The end of the shaft 15,opposite to that on which the pulley 28 is secured, is grooved to provide a head 32 which works in a shouldered recess 33 provided in a slide box V34. This slide box Works in a groove formed in a casting 35. On the outer'end of this casting is secured a yoke 36, the securing means being wooden pins 37. This yoke is centrally screwthreaded to receive the screw threads of a spindle 38, having a handle 39, and rovided on its inner end with a head 40, similarv to the head 32, and which engages in the opposite end of the shouldered recess 33. Between the heads 32 and 40 I interpose balls 41 to provide an anti-friction bearing. 42 indicates a lock lever having screwthreaded engagement with the spindle 38.

The shaft is freely movable longitudinally in its bearings, and when it is desired tofvary the distance v.between kthe grinding disks the lock lever 42 is turned to move it away from the yoke 36,\and the hand wheel 39 is turnedin' one direction lor the other t thereby moving the slide box, and also the shaft 15, which will result in moving the grinding disk 13 toward or from the stationary grinding disk 12. When the adjustment has been made the lock lever 42 is turned into engagement with the yoke 36. By unscrewing the 'set screw 17 ,the cob breaker 16 may be moved in accordance with the adjustment of the grindin disk 13. The construction I have descri ed also provides for preventing material injury being done the machine in the event that either a large or small object, such as a nut, bolt, nail, or the like, should get into the machine. In the case of a large object it would be caught between one of the blades 18 and 4one or the, other of-the ribs 7, and ordinarily one or more f the blades would be broken of, or other injury done themachine, before the machine could be stopped.

With my invention, under the above circumstances, the set screw 17 will be broken loose from its engagement with the shaft 15, probably breaking away a small piece ofthe cob breaker,and the latter will cease to revolve,`an d the object be prevented from passing tothe grinding disks. Of course the cob breaker can readily be secured to the shaft 28 indlcates the drive pulley for the shaft 15 at any other pointafter the breakage. In the event that a small metal object should find its way intothe space between `the grinding disks, the result would be that thel woodenpins 37 would be broken oli' and the grinding disks separated a sulicient distance to allow the object to fall out from between them, resulting in very little, if any, injury to said disks.

In Fig. -L I have shown what I term` a i force feed device, which may be placed on the shaft 15 in place of the cob breaker.

This force feed device is used when alfalfa or other hay, or gram, 1s to be ground, and

ope-rates on the principle of a spiral conveyer to force thematerial to the force feed devint` 19, which latter forces it between the grinding disks.

It should be further stated that the grinding disks 12 and 13 are dished, or concaved,

on their inner faces, so that they gradually decrease in thickness from the periphery to the central aperture, wlnle the rub lrons 22 are of the same thickness throughout their r length, and their opposing faces are parallel. This construction affords relatively wide openings between the rub irons at the center of the disks for the entrance of the material to be ground, which latter, by the combined actions of centrifugal force and. the rub irons, is thus forced rapidly outward between the grinding surfaces.

I claim:

In a-grinding mill` in combination with` therein, and a spindle also rotatably mounted and engaged in said slide box and having screw-threaded engagement with said yoke.

In testimony whereof I have,hereunto set my hand 1n presence of two subscriblng witnesses.

JOHN C. WOODCOCK.

Witnesses:

J ATTERBURY,

- A. W. HaMiLioN.

of said shaft rotatably mounted and engaged A 

